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Edmonton rally protests Caribou Range Plan

Monday, February 26, 2018
11:55:34 MST AM

Local residents and other Albertans protest the Caribou Range Plan and its potential impact on forestry jobs on the steps of the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton on Feb 22 (Taryn Brandell | Whitecourt Star).

The Alberta Forest Alliance (AFA) held a rally regarding the province's Caribou Range Plan on the steps of the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton on Feb. 22.

Under the federal Species at Risk Act, Woodland Caribou are classified as a threatened species. A recovery strategy was developed in 2012 for the boreal population by the Government of Canada that requires provinces to develop range plans to restore and maintain caribou habitat.

The provincial government has released a draft of the proposed range plan that constrains industrial work within the habitat of caribou. The AFA and a number of municipalities are concerned that this plan will restrict access to Alberta’s working forests, which will impact local, regional and provincial economies.

Ray Hilts, the AFA executive director and Whitecourt town councillor, is concerned about the impact this proposal will have on a large number of businesses within local communities.

“Everybody’s pretty fed up with the lack of progress on this issue. In light of (this) there was a consensus by our group to hold a rally,” he said. “We want Minister Philips (environment and parks minister) and Premier Notley to start listening and putting the interest of Albertans first before this federal strategy.”

The rally was attended by many concerned community members with speakers from all over Alberta voicing their concerns, including Woodlands County Mayor Jim Rennie.

“We’re talking about what this means to us… in our community there is a worst case scenario—maybe 1,000 jobs are lost. And maybe to a big city that doesn’t seem like a lot but if you put it in comparison, that would be the same as losing 100,000 jobs in Edmonton and Calgary,” he said.

Rennie argues that if in fact the potential job loss was of this magnitude in these cities, it would be expected that Premier Notley would be in attendance showing support for the communities and fighting to keep them healthy.

Emma Schlosser is a 15-year-old Grade 10 student from Whitecourt who made the trip to Edmonton to voice her own concerns about the proposed protection plan.

Schlosser said that 52 of the 105 students in her grade have parents who are employed directly by the oil and gas industry and 38 of them have parents in support jobs to oil and gas. This leaves only 15 students who would not be affected by the proposed caribou plan.

“Change is going to come from us…the people outside of the community are trying to decide our future and I reject that,” explains Hilts. “We have to accept nothing less than prosperity. Not getting by, not negotiating, but prosperity. And that’s something completely different than what’s on the table right now.”